Barisal poultry farmers protest soaring costs of business

Spiralling prices of day-old chicks and poultry feeds have upset the poultry sector in Barisal.
Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA) of Barisal yesterday held a rally followed by a human chain to protest the rising costs of business.
Poultry farmers also urged the government to reverse the decision on egg imports from India.
The farmers said they run short of capital, technical support and skilled manpower that led to the shutdown of 4,500 farms in the district.
All the factors forced consumers to buy chicken at Tk 110 per kg and eggs at Tk 78 per dozen, a much higher price than the normal, said SM Doha, president of BPIA.
There are around 2,500 farms for layer chickens and 5,500 farms for broiler chickens in Barisal, BPIA officials said.
A small farm can house 200 to 500 fowls, while the numbers reached 2,500 and 3,000 for medium and big farms respectively.
Farmers buy 1,000 chicks (day-old) for Tk 36,000, up from Tk 18,000 three months back.
Sometimes, farmers have to spend as high as Tk 38-40 for a day-old white chick now and Tk 60-65 for a brown chick. The rates ranged between Tk 18 and Tk 30 three months earlier, said Zakaria Mahmud, a member of Swarupkathi Poultry Farm Owners' Association in Pirojpur district.
Currently, around Tk 98 is required to produce a poultry bird that weighs one kilogram, against the wholesale market price of Tk 100.
Farmers are selling eggs at Tk 5.30 apiece against the production cost of Tk 5.25 on average.
Maize and soybean, the two major components of poultry feeds, sell at Tk 25 and Tk 43 a kg respectively on the local market while the price was Tk 12 and Tk 18 in the June-July period of 2008.